Apex AD-2500 and VCD?
 

I encoded a movie to VCD format at 528x480 (NTSC) using Kwag's optimal script for DVD. However, when I tested it on this player, the audio was fine, but all I got video-wise was a jumble of blocks in the very lower portion of the TV screen. I'm trying to figure out if this is a limitation of the player or not. Does anyone know?

Thanks in advance!

Sounds like your player doesn't support 528x480. Did you try playing your VCD in PowerDVD or WinDVD just to check? If it played fine then, it's a limitation of the player. Try 544x480 instead...might work... :)

Using the KVCD Compatibility Test CD, it seems as if any resolution ending with 480 causes the video to skip every second or so... :(

Have you tried muxing and burning as SVCD instead? I have to do this with any resolution higher than VCD...

...and if that doesn't work you could try encoding to MPEG-2.

Highly recommend trying 544x480 instead of 528. My Apex 1500 will only play the 544 resolution--lots of video garbage at 528.
8)

EDIT: Stick to mpeg1 if you can--better quality for KVCD at low bitrates.

My limited experience with an Apex AD-1200 was that it was able to accept KVCD MPEG1 (480x480) encode if remuxed and burned as a SVCD. Someone had previously suggested trying that.

Good Luck!

I am pretty sure it is the 528x480. Try 544x480 instead.

But how can I get that new resolution into a script? I'm not sure how to parse it manually and MovieStacker doesn't seem to have a setting for 544x480.

Moviestacker has the 544x480. I think it is called 3/4 DVD large or something like that.

It's called "3/4 DVD Full" in MovieStacker.

-kwag

Hi Frunobulax,

Sorry I can't be of help about using MovieStacker because I write my avisynth scripts manually, but I do have another word of advice.

If you do try 544x480 resolution and you still experience stuttering/jumping audio, it might be because your dvd player just doesn't like the 23.976fps framerate used by the kvcd templates.

When I play the KVCD Compatibility Test disc in my player, I also experience playback issues every few seconds with any of the templates that use a resolution higher than 352x240. So perhaps your player is similar to mine in that regard (for your sake, I hope not!). Good luck.

-d&c

544x480.

This resolution works in many many DVD players (all APEX players).
23.976fps works wery vell at that resolution. Decomb (Telecine) might
give these problems sometimes.

Argh!

I just tried 544x480 @ 24 fps in my Magnavox MRD200 Home Theater. (It appears to be similar to Apex in firmware) and it does NOT LIKE 24 fps!!!!!!!!!!!

Stuttering. I will have to try 30 fps next. Now I have to re-frameserve it.............. :x :x :x :x :x

telemike is correct, at least as far as my Apex 1500 is concerned. For NTSC 23.976 sources I can encode at 544x480, but I have to use the 29.97 framerate to avoid video stuttering every few seconds. My Apex doesn't like 544x480 at 23.976.

Haven't used MovieStacker, but in TMPGEnc you can manually change the framerate to 29.97 for encoding.

Hope this is helpful! :)

EDIT: For PAL sources (25 fps), I can encode at 544x576 25fps and my Apex will play them just fine.